Origin Millennium (2019) Evaluate: An Superior Desktop Battlestation

“Origin’s Millennium is the very best customized gaming desktop you should purchase.”

Good-looking design

Wonderful construct high quality

Straightforward to improve

Sturdy efficiency in all benchmarks

Some rivals are faster

Video video games have conquered the world. You may play on nearly something; a laptop computer, a $300 smartphone, even an entry-level Chromebook. But, a large hole stays between the best video games and people beloved by ‘core’ gamer. You’re not going to play Metro: Exodus at 4K and most element on a smartphone.

For that, you want a critical gaming battlestation – like Origin’s Millennium. This flagship full tower desktop is huge in each measurement and value. It stands 20 inches tall, weighs at the least 30 kilos, and begins north of $2,000. The absolutely outfitted evaluation unit I examined, which had a Core i9-9900Ok and twin Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti video playing cards, rang up close to $5,750.

That’s some huge cash, although commonplace for a top-tier gaming desktop. And because it seems, the Millennium is cash nicely spent.

Good-looking gamer

Origin was among the many first customized PC builders to modify its flagship desktop to a customized enclosure. That enclosure was up to date to its second-generation final 12 months — and we had been impressed. The huge Millennium combines a glossy metallic entrance, which swings out to disclose the optical drive (if outfitted) and hot-swap exhausting drive bays, with tempered glass flanks secured by magnets. The end in a glossy, clear, imposing silhouette. It appears to be like delicate when in comparison with the madness of Alienware’s Space-51 or the monolithic Digital Storm Aventum X, however I feel Origin’s rig is probably the most good-looking of the three. It’s critical, assured, and even skilled – relying on the colour you purchase.

The Millennium’s chassis is constructed from metal and most surfaces are both glass or aluminum, which provides the case heft. Severely. You can choose it up solo, however I like to recommend you convey a good friend, as even a minor drop may shatter these stunning glass facet panels. The front-facing port panels stays the only construct high quality weak point. It’s constituted of a skinny piece of plastic that feels misplaced on this in any other case hefty PC.

Whereas the Millennium’s high quality is apparent at a look, the enclosure has one other large benefit over most rivals. Customization. Origin designed the case so it may be configured a number of methods. The motherboard could be positioned on both the appropriate or left facet of the case, and oriented so the motherboard ports face in direction of the rear or the highest.

It’s critical, assured, and even skilled – relying on the colour you purchase.

It’s a nerdy element, however there’s sensible profit. You may order the Millennium in a configuration that works finest on your gaming den or workplace. An fanatic who usually tinkers with the system and often swaps peripherals may need to have the motherboard ports dealing with up for ease of entry, whereas a video editor constructing a god-tier rig may steer in direction of a extra conventional setup.

The Origin Millennium affords a lightweight present however, true to theme, it’s subdued. The glowing Origin emblem up entrance is the one customized ingredient. It appears to be like superb, however many friends provide a number of customized lighting parts that mix for extra visible aptitude. The Millennium may even be ordered with two aluminum facet panels as an alternative of glass, additional decreasing the wow issue.

Personally, I don’t a lot care. Insane lighting isn’t my factor. But it surely’s one thing to remember in order for you a desktop with lights that flash in time with a sport’s framerate. What I do care about is a way of high quality and enticing, elegant design. That’s the place the Millennium delivers.

A lot of ports, minus the thunder

The Millennium’s front-facing ports could also be clad in flimsy plastic, however it’s nicely positioned. A slide-down panel hides the ability button, relaxation button, two USB-A three.1 ports, a USB-C three.1 port, and the headphone/microphone jacks. It’s a regular setup, however the ports are positioned precisely the place they have to be.

Wealthy Shibley/Digital Tendencies

Rear-facing ports will rely upon the motherboard, however even the least costly configuration contains a number of USB three.1 ports with one further, rear-facing USB-C three.1. You’ll additionally obtain 7.1 audio.

Thunderbolt three is just not accessible, nevertheless. Not one of the Millennium’s accessible motherboards help it. You’ll have to purchase Origin’s L-Class workstation in order for you that. I wish to see Thunderbolt on a system as costly because the Millennium however, to be truthful, it’s additionally absent from the competitors.

Need to improve? No drawback

Origin could use a customized enclosure, however the Millennium’s internals are pleasantly acquainted when you dig into them. Various configurations, like people who tilt the motherboard ports in direction of the highest, may barely confuse new fanatics.

The case is massive, in fact, so there’s no scarcity of house for upgrades. A fundamental configuration can have just one PCI slot used, providing room for a number of video playing cards or different add-in PCI playing cards. There’s additionally room for as much as 9 exhausting drives, counting the m.2 and exhausting drive bays collectively. You may up that to 10 should you additionally benefit from non-compulsory Intel Optane graphics.

I anticipate any flagship desktop to supply pristine internals, and the Millennium doesn’t disappoint.

Excessive-configurations may use all these growth alternatives, in fact, however they’re so costly that most individuals gained’t go for them. Even our decked-out evaluation unit had loads of house for upgrading the RAM, exhausting drives, and PCIe playing cards.

Cracking open the case is straightforward, because the facet glass is secured by magnets. Minor upgrades normally gained’t require the usage of instruments. A extra critical change, like a brand new processor or motherboard, will imply breaking out a screwdriver and tweezers, however the Millennium’s massive measurement and easy accessibility to either side of the rig means swapping these elements is easier than doing the identical on a smaller, mass-produced desktop.

Wealthy Shibley/Digital Tendencies

You’ll discover only one impediment in your method – Origin’s personal excessive requirements. Our Millennium evaluation unit was tightly wound with rigorously organized and secured cables that positioned all the things precisely the place it must be to supply a clear presentation. You might need to maneuver some cables, which implies ruining the cautious cable routing you paid for. Good luck restoring it to Origin’s exacting requirements.

That’s not an actual grievance, although. I anticipate any flagship desktop to supply pristine internals, and the Millennium doesn’t disappoint.

The Core i9-9900Ok rides to victory

Our Origin Millennium evaluation unit arrived with an Intel Core i9-9900Ok working at its customary base clock pace of three.6GHz, which may turbo as much as 5GHz. That is an especially highly effective eight-core chip with hyper-threading. We’ve now seen it in 4 completely different programs, and all of them ship excellent outcomes.

Not like an AMD Ryzen chip, or Intel’s dearer X-Sequence processors, the Intel Core i9-9900Ok delivers a balanced mix of single-core and multi-core efficiency. It beats any beforehand examined chip in each single-core and multi-core efficiency. We’ve but to evaluation a rig with Intel’s latest Ninth-generation X-Sequence chips inside, and we all know they’d win in multi-core check (the i9-9980XE has 18 cores!) Nonetheless, there’s little doubt the Core i9-9900Ok hits a candy spot for many duties.

The Origin Millennium doesn’t appear to supply an edge over the rivals with the identical chip. It solely trades blows with the Asus Strix GL12X, and comes up a bit behind the Digital Storm Aventum X.

If you wish to play at 4K with out turning particulars down, the Millennium has you lined.

Nevertheless, the gaps between all of the Core i9-9900Ok programs we’ve examined are too small to be significant in real-world use. That grew to become evident in our Handbrake benchmark, which transcodes a 4K video clip from h.264 to h.265. All 4 examined desktops got here inside a number of seconds of one another. You’d by no means discover a distinction with no stopwatch.

Whereas the Millennium’s processor efficiency is on par with the competitors, its exhausting drive efficiency is in one other league. The evaluation unit arrived with a Samsung 970 Professional m.2 drive that conquered our benchmark with ease.

I noticed learn speeds over three gigabytes per second and write speeds over two gigabytes per second. These aren’t information, however they’re wonderful all the identical. Consider, although, that competing rigs could provide exhausting drive upgrades that put them in an analogous league.

Let’s get to the gaming

The Millennium is able to many issues, however gaming is its finest objective. Our evaluation system got here maxed out with two Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti video playing cards in SLI, probably the most highly effective configuration presently accessible. So, how’d it truthful? Let’s begin with 3DMark.

3DMark Time Spy benchmark runs fantastically on the Origin Millennium, however the outcomes aren’t totally favorable. Origin’s rig comes up in need of the Digital Storm Aventum X, which Digital Tendencies examined whereas additionally outfitted with two Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti graphics playing cards. That edge is probably going as a result of Aventum’s use of liquid cooling loop for each video playing cards.

That’s only one benchmark, although. Does that outcome translate to real-world gaming? Let’s begin at 1080p.

A twin RTX 2080 Ti rig just like the Origin Millennium I examined is overkill for 1080p gaming. Largely. Like its rivals, the Millennium was usually bumping off engine framerate caps throughout our assessments. But there are some video games, like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, that require this a lot horsepower if you wish to play on a 1080p display screen with a 120Hz or 144Hz refresh charge and achieve full advantage of that characteristic.

The Millennium trades blows with the Digital Storm Aventum X, a main competitor, all through these assessments. Neither has an total definitive edge over the opposite. It’s time to show up the warmth.

It is a extra practical decision for a high-end rig just like the Origin Millennium, although you could be confused by the numbers. Many aren’t a lot completely different from the 1080p outcomes. As talked about, the Millennium is so quick it’s usually hitting engine framerate caps or, if not that, a CPU bottleneck. It’s nonetheless operating into these obstacles even at 1440p.

You’ll find indicators the Millennium has limits, although. Battlefield 1 averages 177 frames per second at extremely element as an alternative of hitting the engine cap. Deux Ex: Mankind Divided averages 113 frames per second, which isn’t fairly sufficient to fulfill a 1440p monitor with a 120Hz refresh charge.

The Origin Millennium and Digital Storm Aventum X proceed to commerce blows at this decision, with no clear winner rising. That may solely imply one factor. It’s time to go to 4K.

4K gaming might be what a gamer who buys the Origin Millennium desires to realize. The outcomes show it’s an obtainable dream. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided nonetheless averages 70 frames per second at extremely element. That’s not doable with a single RTX 2080 Ti. Civilization VI exceeds 90 FPS, and Battlefield 1 hits 140 FPS, on common.

Whereas the slugfest between the Millennium and Aventum X continues right here, the latter does take the lead in most video games. The Millennium solely wins in Battlefield 1 at each medium and extremely element. The Aventum X in any other case takes the lead, although not at all times by a significant quantity.

I additionally tried two newer video games; Battlefield V and Murderer’s Creed: Odyssey. The newest Battlefield title averaged a formidable 75 frames per second at 4k and most element (notice, nevertheless, that we didn’t allow ray tracing). The notoriously demanding Odyssey averaged 50 frames per second at 4K decision and most element.

Wealthy Shibley/Digital Tendencies

The Origin Millennium is a gaming powerhouse. There’s little doubt about that. In actual fact, it’s what we’d anticipate. The Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti is the quickest video card supplied to players proper now. Two of them, in fact, is even higher, tacking an additional 40 p.c to the common framerate throughout the video games we examined. That’s overkill for many players — however if you wish to play at 4K with out turning particulars down, the Millennium has you lined.

The Origin Millennium is the very best customized desktop you should purchase right this moment.

You do need to pay for the standard. Base fashions begin simply north of $2,000. Our evaluation with an Intel Core i9-9900Ok, twin Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti video playing cards, 16GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM and 512GB Samsung 970 Professional M.2. exhausting drive, rung as much as $5,750.

A flagship desktop is supposed to make an announcement, each for itself and for its personal. The Millennium does that. It is a stunning piece of that appears good-looking at a look and solely turns into extra spectacular the extra carefully it’s scrutinized.

Is there a greater various?

Not on this class. The Origin Millennium is a stand-out amongst customized gaming desktops.

A cheaper system may serve you higher if uncooked efficiency worth is your purpose, however the Millennium traces up with competitors from different customized PC builders. The Digital Storm Aventum X is over $7,000 with related . Even CyberpowerPC, an organization recognized for worth, can hit an analogous value level in order for you the discovered within the Millennium we examined.

The Falcon Northwest Mach V is one other looker, however it may use a chassis replace. The Alienware Space-51 affords an much more distinctive enclosure, however its processor choices are lackluster.

How lengthy will it final?

The Origin Millennium’s sturdy case and wonderful construct high quality give me confidence this desktop can serve you from years. Inner does go old-fashioned, however the Millennium’s enclosure will stay helpful as long as desktop PCs proceed to be a factor.

I want Origin would improve its guarantee, nevertheless. Transport is simply lined for the primary 45 days by default, a little bit of superb print that might function a ‘gotcha!’ ought to any issues come up.

Do you have to purchase it?

Sure. The Origin Millennium is an excellent desktop that any PC gamer can be proud to personal.